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architecture and design magazineSun, 02 Aug 2015 17:00:12 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2Tokyo No Ie: Jérémie Souteyrat documents Tokyo's contemporary houseshttp://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/19/jeremie-souteyrat-tokyo-no-ie-documentary-photography-contemporary-houses-japanese-architects/
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/19/jeremie-souteyrat-tokyo-no-ie-documentary-photography-contemporary-houses-japanese-architects/#commentsSun, 19 Jul 2015 17:09:42 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=738599Photo essay: French photographer Jérémie Souteyrat trained himself to photograph architecture after moving to Tokyo, by hunting down and documenting some of the best private houses in his adopted city. "As far as Tokyo is concerned, Westerners too often know little apart from the high-rise buildings of Shibuya and Shinjuku and the packed crowds of […]

]]>Photo essay: French photographer Jérémie Souteyrat trained himself to photograph architecture after moving to Tokyo, by hunting down and documenting some of the best private houses in his adopted city.

"As far as Tokyo is concerned, Westerners too often know little apart from the high-rise buildings of Shibuya and Shinjuku and the packed crowds of these commercial districts," said Souteyrat. "But Tokyo is, in fact, a horizontal city, with a lower per unit density than Paris."

In this exclusive photo essay, the photographer explains how he spent four years creating images of Tokyo houses by a range of architects – including firms like Atelier Bow Wow and ALX.

I moved from Paris to Tokyo in 2009 and started to work as a freelance professional photographer when I arrived in Tokyo, as I had had a regular job in France. As a documentary photographer I received assignments from magazines and newspapers for cultural and social features. One day someone asked me if I could take architecture pictures as well and I replied "of course!".

Tokyo, 8 April 2011 – Ou-an by Ken Yokogawa

At that time I was shooting with a tiny Leica and I had no experience in architectural photography. I had to buy a proper lens and camera for this assignment. This was my first step as a photographer into the architecture world, even though I have been interested in architecture since I came to Japan.

Tiny streets are not the image Westerners have in mind when they think about Tokyo

A few months after this assignment, I thought about starting a personal project. I really wanted to document the tiny streets of Tokyo, which are not the image Westerners have in mind when they think about Tokyo. At the same time I wanted to use my new equipment to photograph the architecture of the city, so I decided to focus on the most amazing architecture one can find in Tokyo's residential neighborhoods: contemporary houses.

Tokyo, 3 September 2010 – On The Cherry Blossom by ALX

When I settled down in Tokyo, I discovered an architecture magazine published only in Japan and Japanese, called Jutakutokushu. Every month if featured about 20 houses from all around Japan. I was fascinated by the quality and originality of those houses. It was nothing compared to what one can built in France. I had the idea to build a series, featuring some of these houses and their environment, so that one can feel the atmosphere and life of Tokyo's residential neighbourhoods.

I wanted to show the houses as they were used, with cars, curtains, dirtiness, etc. Architecture photography is often only PR photography, so I had a documentary approach: no lies, the pictures had to tell what the houses look like when they are used.

Tokyo, 21 September 2010 – Lucky Drops by Atelier Tekuto

There are so many interesting houses all around Japan, so I had to restrict it as much as I could to build a coherent series. I decided to shoot only houses in the Tokyo metropolitan area and built after 2000 – they are the houses of the 21st century.

The private spaces are often hidden and it's common to see no windows from the street

Even though Tokyo is less dense than cities like Paris, the capital of Japan is denser than other Japanese cities. So the land for houses is much smaller, with an average plot size of 70 square metres. The houses are pretty small and usually built on three storeys. They can even look like tall buildings in denser parts of the city, just a few meters wide and 20 metres high. One of them (Kudan house by Sakane Keikaku), featured in the book, is so narrow and tall than she can disappear in the folding of the book. Architects and residents have to deal with the density and the smallness of the plots. The private spaces are often hidden and it's common to see no windows from the street.

Tokyo, 22 September 2010 – Ame/Hare by Mount Fuji Architects Studio

Houses are usually destroyed every 25 years in Japan and the inheritance taxes push families to sell half of their land. That's why the sites are so tiny now, and in Tokyo private gardens have mostly disappeared. The only space left in front of the house is for the car, as one has to own one's own car park to possess a car. But it does mean that there are many opportunities for architects to build houses in Tokyo.

Difficult conditions can be a trigger for high creativity. But apart from the rules about maximum volume and size, architects are pretty free to build what they like, as long as the clients agree. There are almost no standards for construction in Japan, compared to other countries.

Tokyo, 8 November 2010 – Swimmy House by Starpilots

It's good to have construction standards and rules like we have in Western countries, but I wish architects could be more free to design and build contemporary houses and buildings to bring some variety, surprise and beauty to the city.

Tokyo has no style, that's why I like it

Tokyo has no style, that's why I like it. It's full of surprises, even though it's not a total mess – everything is very organised. Some architects have a very structural approach with amazing shapes, like Architecton or Atelier Tekuto, but some have a very good sense of space, even though the houses are not so spectacular, like Atelier Bow-Wow.

Tokyo, 1 November 2011 – Delta by Architecton

When I was choosing which houses to shoot, their shape had to be amazing or their relationship to the street had to be surprising. It had to be something I had never seen before and difficult to imagine in another country.

I didn't care about which architect had designed the project, I was interested in the house and its location. I wish I could have included houses by Toyo Ito, Tadao Ando or Mikan but it didn't fit in with my selection.

Tokyo, December 2012 – House Tokyo by ALX

Also, as the goal was also to document everyday life in residential neighbourhoods in Tokyo, the environment was very important. I wanted the series to reflect the Japanese way of life so I also chose houses near schools, cherry blossom trees, bus stops, etc. – places where I knew I could find good photo opportunities.

I wanted the series to reflect the Japanese way of life

I found the houses in Japanese magazines or on the websites of architects. Then I had to find the locations, as in the beginning the architects didn't want to send me the addresses to preserve the privacy of their clients.

Tokyo, 21 March 2013 – House in Nakameguro by Yoritaka Hayashi

At that time I had no publisher and the architects didn't consider the project as serious. So I spent many hours and days on Google Maps and on the internet, searching for the houses. This was the longest and most difficult part of the project!

After searching for the locations and information about the houses for so long beforehand, it was always a (nice or bad) surprise to discover what each one looks like "for real". For instance I went to shoot the Curtain House by Shigeru Ban, which is a bit older but such an iconic house I had to try to add it to the project. Unfortunately, the house had nothing to do with the newly-built house everybody knows – the concept was probably too strong for the clients and it was in very bad shape. At that time it was 15 years old and it will probably be torn down soon.

Tokyo, 17 September 2013 – Shimokitazawa House by Niizeki

I had some good surprises with the local people I met. One of them invited me to visit his house and I also had sometime friendly exchanges with the neighbours. On the other side, in areas with a lot of elderly people I was more or less chased away by the neighbours when it was turning dark. They were afraid to see a foreigner taking pictures at night.

It was a fantastic opportunity to discover Tokyo. Every neighbourhood is a small village and while waiting for the good picture to happen in front of the houses, I had the chance to spend some time just observing everyday life in Tokyo.

Tokyo, 28 October 2013 – Laatikko by Workshop Kino

People rarely stop on a bench or in a garden to watch what's happening around them, it's bad manners in Japan and Tokyo is a moving city. So the experience of being able to see Tokyo through my camera was very rich and important to me.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/19/jeremie-souteyrat-tokyo-no-ie-documentary-photography-contemporary-houses-japanese-architects/feed/2Alicja Dobrucka photographs Le Corbusier's "random and eccentric" La Tourettehttp://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/09/alicja-dobrucka-photographs-le-corbusier-sainte-marie-de-la-tourette-lyon-france/
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/09/alicja-dobrucka-photographs-le-corbusier-sainte-marie-de-la-tourette-lyon-france/#commentsThu, 09 Jul 2015 05:00:41 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=733942Photographer Alicja Dobrucka recently stayed at and photographed Sainte Marie de La Tourette, the 1960s Dominican convent near Lyon, France, designed by Le Corbusier. We spoke to Dobrucka about her trip to the building that "looks and feels very much like a Baroque bunker" (+ slideshow + interview). "What I wanted to capture was the austerity of […]

]]>Photographer Alicja Dobrucka recently stayed at and photographed Sainte Marie de La Tourette, the 1960s Dominican convent near Lyon, France, designed by Le Corbusier. We spoke to Dobrucka about her trip to the building that "looks and feels very much like a Baroque bunker" (+ slideshow + interview).

"What I wanted to capture was the austerity of the building, but also the playful organisation of space, which I found seductive," said the Polish photographer, who stayed in one of the convent's 100 cells.

"I was completely taken aback by the structure, and how random and eccentric it actually is," she added. "There were many little surprising details, like the curved rooftop of the staircase or the free-form concrete flowerpots."

Le Corbusier worked with architect and avant-garde musician Iannis Xenakis on the design of the hilltop Couvent Sainte Marie de La Tourette, which was constructed between 1956 and 1960 and which is considered a masterpiece of late Modernism.

"I think there is a big gap between what Le Corbusier says and what his buildings do," she told Dezeen. "The formal inventions are extremely playful and contradict the cliché that form follows function."

Read the transcript from our interview with Dobrucka:

Marcus Fairs: Why did you choose to photograph La Tourette?

Alicja Dobrucka: Funnily enough the initial idea was to have a retreat in the monastery. I wanted to familiarise myself with Le Corbusier's language in preparation for photographing his work in Chandigarh in India that I intend to visit this summer.

Marcus Fairs: What was your impression of the place?

Alicja Dobrucka: It looks and feels very much like a baroque bunker. Le Corbusier even refer to it as an Assyrian fortress – I presume that's mainly because of the small windows. It is a huge structure with at least 100 cells, a church, a crypt, a library and meeting rooms, and a large kitchen to prepare modest meals.

The combinations of plain colours – red, green, yellow, blue and black - are the colours of floors, doors, and even pipes. It feels as if Le Corbusier made a collage of different spatial ideas as to what the structure should be and employed them all. Iannis Xenakis designed the windows that resemble musical scores. The cloister is not on the ground but on the roof, but this meditative walk is jealously reserved for the Dominicans only.

The Dominicans changed their mind once the monastery was built and decided to live among the community so at the moment there are only 10 of them residing in the building. Now the place is used for exhibitions, concerts and seminars, mixing cultural activities with religious ones. You have to be very quiet in the residential ones. The sound in the church is amazing; any whisper carries all through the space. Also the snoring of one of the pilgrims carried over to my cell.

Marcus Fairs: Describe the journey to the monastery. Is it easy to get to?

Alicja Dobrucka: There are few ways to reach the monastery. You can fly to Lyon and take a bus or drive. I booked a cell in the monastery itself.

I arrived late, after the reception hours. There was a letter pinned to the door with my name on it. It stated the location and the number of my cell as well as the code for the front door. After a quick glimpse at the letter I opened the door and was grabbed by a Dominican asking whether I was the late guest. He lead me to the dining room.

There were four large square tables around which were sitting the priests, the retreat guests as well as some students who came to prepare for their Baccalauréat. The meal was simple, something that looked like huge meatballs with rice and salad. Red table wine was also served. Unlike the guests, the fathers and brothers did not drink much of it.

The design and proportion of each cell is the same as the small hotel rooms at La Cité Radieuse in Marseille. The cell I stayed in was surprisingly comfortable. It was long and narrow, with a green floor and white walls made of thick rendering that recalled the interior of a grotto. On the door of my room were pinned the house rules: do not invite anyone in your cell, do not bring food or drinks, and do not have conversations in the corridors.

There was a sink on the left hand side just by the entrance and a set of shelves and wardrobe, behind which there was a single bed. A table was by the window and the room ended with a little balcony. There was a long rectangular aperture the length of the door that you could close with a wooden shutter. When it was open, you could see into the corridor and people walking by could catch a glimpse of the side of the room.

Marcus Fairs: What was it like to photograph?

Alicja Dobrucka: I was completely taken aback by the structure, and how random and eccentric it actually is. Certain elements of the building I kept coming back to – like what Le Corbusier called the light guns, that allow the light to access the church. The intensity and direction of light would change the perception of the volumes in the church. Somehow photographing the building allowed me to understand it.

Brother Marc Chauveau, who has curated an exhibitions of the monochrome painter Alan Charlton and who is preparing another with Anish Kapoor, commented upon how the building had been represented through photography: if the early photographers strived to present a general view, later photographers focus on the details of the architecture and how it is transformed by light and shadow.

Marcus Fairs: Was it what you expected?

Alicja Dobrucka: I came there with no expectations. I just wanted to feel the structure and hence decided to stay in it. The building kept on changing depending on the light. I thought that the outside of the building came to life in the evening and the inside of the building came to life during the day.

I really loved the big and blank concrete walls and they were essential for me to be in the series. I think that what I wanted to capture was the austerity of the building, but also the playful organisation of space, which I found seductive. There were many little surprising details, like the curved rooftop of the staircase or the free-form concrete flowerpots.

Marcus Fairs: Was this a commission or a self-initiated project?

Alicja Dobrucka: It was a self-initiated project. I may actually go back one day to photograph the other parts of the building that are not accessible to visitors, like the rooftop cloisters. It is still very much a work in progress and it may well become a part of a much bigger series, which could be combined with other pictures I will have taken of other Le Corbusier's buildings.

Marcus Fairs: Have you photographed any of his other buildings?

Alicja Dobrucka: This was the first time I have visited any of his structures. On this trip I also visited the small house he built for his parents in Corseaux next to Lake Léman, where he also included a room with separate access for himself and his wife, with bunk beds.

Why have single beds, just like in a monastery? Is this linked to a puritan work ethic? This single-bed obsession is continued in his cabanon at Cap Martin as well as in the camping huts that he designed there.

Marcus Fairs: What are his buildings like to photograph compared to those of other architects?

Alicja Dobrucka: I think there is a big gap between what Le Corbusier says and what his buildings do. The formal inventions are extremely playful and contradict the cliché that form follows function.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/09/alicja-dobrucka-photographs-le-corbusier-sainte-marie-de-la-tourette-lyon-france/feed/9Francis Giacobetti photographs leaping dancers wearing Issey Miyake's pleated garmentshttp://www.dezeen.com/2015/06/14/issey-miyake-francis-giacobetti-pleats-please-photographs-exhibition-daikanyama-t-site-tokyo-japan/
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/06/14/issey-miyake-francis-giacobetti-pleats-please-photographs-exhibition-daikanyama-t-site-tokyo-japan/#commentsSun, 14 Jun 2015 18:00:50 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=719239These images by French photographer Francis Giacobetti of dancers wearing pleated Issey Miyake garments are on show at the Daikanyama T-site venue in Tokyo. Giacobetti, who has worked on fashion shoots for publications including Vogue since the 1960s, was commissioned by Japanese fashion house Issey Miyake to photograph the Pleats Please campaigns between 1999 and 2001. He […]

Giacobetti, who has worked on fashion shoots for publications including Vogue since the 1960s, was commissioned by Japanese fashion house Issey Miyake to photograph the Pleats Please campaigns between 1999 and 2001. He was then brought back to capture images for the collections from 2012 onwards.

In the shots, the pleated garments are worn by dancers posed in extreme positions – jumping with outstretched legs or balancing on one pointed toe.

Pleats Please Issey Miyake, Spring Summer 2000

"With dancers as his models, he was able to capture the changing expressions of Pleats Please with each dancer's movement," reads the Pleats Please book published by Taschen, in which many of the photos are collected. "This work culminated in a striking series that showcased Pleats Please's radiant palette and prints."

Study for Guest Artist Series No.3

Photographed against a white background, Giacobetti has exaggerated the contrast between the models' skin to create silhouetted shapes that help to highlight the garments.

The images for the exhibition show clothes from various seasons, including loose striped and gridded pieces from Spring Summer 2013 and a billowing skirt from Spring Summer 2000.

Pleats Please Issey Miyake, Autumn Winter 2015

The Pleats Please womenswear range was first introduced in 1989. Issey Miyake launched it as a separate brand in 1993, and new collections are still produced each season.

Pleats Please Issey Miyake, Autumn Winter 2013

"This is a line that is positioned to embody one of the most fundamental concepts of Issey Miyake – where the true value of design lies in its integration into the everyday life and comfort of the wearer," said the brand's website.

Pleats Please Issey Miyake, Autumn Winter 1999

"This is clearly demonstrated in the development and evolution of traditional techniques of processing and of pleating material into a highly functional modern product – light in weight and easy to wear and handle."

Study of a dancer

Prism runs from 12 to 21 June 2015 at the Daikanyama T-site's Garden Gallery in the Shibuya-ku district of Tokyo.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2015/06/14/issey-miyake-francis-giacobetti-pleats-please-photographs-exhibition-daikanyama-t-site-tokyo-japan/feed/2Shanghai art museum by Atelier Deshaus brings together vaulted columns and an industrial relichttp://www.dezeen.com/2015/06/07/shanghai-art-long-museum-west-bund-atelier-deshaus-vaulted-columns-coal-industrial-relic/
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/06/07/shanghai-art-long-museum-west-bund-atelier-deshaus-vaulted-columns-coal-industrial-relic/#commentsSun, 07 Jun 2015 20:00:19 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=715030These new shots by photography duo Hufton + Crow depict the Long Museum West Bund – a contemporary art gallery in Shanghai built around an industrial structure once used for unloading huge quantities of coal (+ slideshow). The museum – one of 15 architecture projects shortlisted for the Design Museum's 2015 Designs of the Year awards – was […]

]]>These new shots by photography duo Hufton + Crow depict the Long Museum West Bund – a contemporary art gallery in Shanghai built around an industrial structure once used for unloading huge quantities of coal (+ slideshow).

The museum – one of 15 architecture projects shortlisted for the Design Museum's 2015 Designs of the Year awards – was designed by Shanghai firm Atelier Deshaus, led by architect Liu Yichun.

Liu's strategy for the project was to create a contemporary building that also referenced the history of its site, which became a wharf for coal transportation in the 1950s but had most recently housed an underground car park.

The most prominent remnant of the site's industrial heritage was the coal-hopper unloading bridge. Measuring 110 metres long, 10 metres wide and eight metres high, it spanned the site on a north-west to south-west trajectory.

Rather than demolishing this, or even building alongside it, Liu chose to make the structure the centre of his building. Not only does it frame the museum's entrance, it accommodates a temporary exhibition space.

"Against the charmless basement slab, the conveyer loading bridge built in the 50s, a relic of Shanghai’s industrial culture, increasingly displayed a loneliness and solitude," explained the architect.

"I do not believe that the engineers when they designed this platform ever had thought about the aesthetic aspect," he said.

"However, a few decades later, this platform became a pure visual and spatial landscape construct, a beautiful object, when it lost its original function."

The existing basement car park dictated a structural grid of 8.4-metre intervals, providing the project with its largest constraint. To get around this, Liu developed a "free-wall plan", allowing rooms to flow into one another.

"Nowadays, for most people, visiting a museum no longer means a sequential contemplation of one room after another," he said.

"Especially for contemporary art, its exhibition, its being viewed, even its process of being created; all of them anticipate an uncertainty," he continued. "Viewing an art piece then is to allow the body move with a consciousness, to realise a sense of freedom, which is the critical reason why we choose the free wall plan."

Architecturally the building's form was created by the repetition of one element, referred to as the "vault umbrella". It comprises a concrete column that curves out towards the top, so that it looks like separated halves of an arch.

These are dozens of these elements throughout the building. Some stretch all the way to the roof, while others frame exhibition spaces on the ground floor. But they all line up with the existing structural grid.

"In this structural transition, the freedom of wall positioning is critical," said Liu. "This freedom is not only about location, but also about direction, so this umbrella-shaped cantilever extending from the wall became the undoubted choice."

"It was like completing a puzzle – we wanted the roof to be a full cover, the lobby to be a long span space, B1 gallery to be a spirally downward space, second floor to be an open courtyard, and also have to take into account the possibility of multiple and single routes of exhibition," he added.

There are three main storeys defined within the building – a ground floor, a first floor and a basement.

Contemporary art galleries are located on all three levels, but the basement also includes exhibition spaces for more historic collections.

The archive also occupies the basement, while the upper level accommodates an auditorium and a restaurant overlooking the river.

]]>http://www.dezeen.com/2015/06/07/shanghai-art-long-museum-west-bund-atelier-deshaus-vaulted-columns-coal-industrial-relic/feed/9Christopher Forsyth embarks on a project to document all of Montreal's metro stationshttp://www.dezeen.com/2015/05/17/christopher-forsyth-embarks-on-a-project-to-document-all-of-montreals-metro-stations/
http://www.dezeen.com/2015/05/17/christopher-forsyth-embarks-on-a-project-to-document-all-of-montreals-metro-stations/#commentsSun, 17 May 2015 17:00:06 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=702066Photo essay: Canadian photographer Christopher Forsyth has spent the last seven months shooting the subterranean stations that make up Montreal's four-line metro system (+ slideshow). The Montreal Metro is Canada's busiest metro system, with an average of 1,245,700 journeys taken every weekday. But Forsyth says most passengers barely notice the "beautiful design" of its 68 stations, many of which were completed […]

]]>Photo essay: Canadian photographer Christopher Forsyth has spent the last seven months shooting the subterranean stations that make up Montreal's four-line metro system (+ slideshow).

The Montreal Metro is Canada's busiest metro system, with an average of 1,245,700 journeys taken every weekday. But Forsyth says most passengers barely notice the "beautiful design" of its 68 stations, many of which were completed in the 1960s.

In this essay written exclusively for Dezeen he describes his aim to document the spaces of all 68 and reveals the perils of being caught photographing travellers unawares.

The unique architecture, art, and design of Montreal's metro has been the focus of a photography series I have been developing since October 2014. The project aims to encourage Montrealers to see their metro in a new light and show people that beautiful design is all around us.

The construction of the metro system began in the 1960s under the direction of Montreal's mayor at the time, Jean Drapeau. He launched a competition inviting Canadian architects to design their own unique station. Art installations were then commissioned on a station-to-station basis.

Over time, the system grew to what it is today – a microcosm of architectural styles stretched across 68 stations.

When travelling underground you lose your sense of time and distance

Taking the metro almost daily to and from school for years, I began to familiarise myself with the stations. They grew on me. There was one station in particular that began my obsession – De La Savane.

A cement cavern with white dome lights, and lines cut into the concrete walls: the station is beautifully graphic and the light draws you to the metro platforms. It was the first station I photographed, with good reason.

I began sharing my photos on my Instagram using the hashtag #mtlmetroproject. Both Montrealers and visitors alike started to share their metro shots creating an archive of the many stations. It quickly became all I shot.

I've spent days underground just taking photos of what I find

When travelling underground you lose your sense of time and distance. You can enter one station in a certain neighbourhood, hop on the metro for a few minutes, and find yourself totally disoriented in a completely different part of town. It's hard to understand where you are exactly and how point A and B are connected. I love the metro for that reason.

I enjoy getting lost and finding new corridors and trying to piece it all back together. I've spent days underground just taking photos of what I find.

After a while, you begin to look at the stations less like a commuter going from A to B and notice all the details in between: the ceilings, the walls, the tiling, the movement, and the flow. The way the metros circulate make for interesting photos too.

Over time, motion blur has become a standard of sorts when I look for a good photo. From the metro cars themselves to the flow of the escalators, movement makes for interesting imagery. As I introduced longer exposures to blur movement, people in my photos became less and less prominent.

I strive to capture what they once were and what they are now

Over time, huge empty stations became the face of my series – my own personal touch. It helped a lot, seeing as Quebec is the only Canadian province with laws in place against photographing people in public spaces. Not having permission from STM, the metro authority, to take photos, it is a lot easier if I avoid disturbing anyone in the first place. When I'm approached by an employee of the STM, I explain that I'm taking architecture photos devoid of people, and if they tell me to leave, I just move on to the next station.

As the series grows, I hope to one day cover all 68 stations. As stations are renovated and their appearances change, I strive to capture what they once were and what they are now.